There is also a new section on our website dedicated to COVID-19 news to provide quick and effective access to relevant information.

Interestingly, I recently experienced “living” through another pandemic. It was the 1919 influenza pandemic, and my experience was “living” it through the newspaper reports of the time while writing our “100 Years Ago This Week” column.

The 1919 pandemic had a big impact on the community at the time. There was much fear, and sickness.

St Pancras Private Hospital at Frankston was quarantined to house infected patients at the beginning of February 1919, and by mid-February, the state school in Frankston had been commandeered as an influenza hospital.

Luckily, the crisis passed quickly, as it’s likely to this time, even if it fully develops.

Our predecessors in 1919 continued with their lives and the newspapers at the time continued running articles about things strangely familiar: dissatisfaction with various levels of government, motor car accidents and, of course, complaints about the state of the roads.

It is important to take lessons from them. How they coped so well with what was a devastating world-wide pandemic causing the death of an estimated 50-100 million people.

The Mornington Standard’s motto back then summed it all up nicely. A quote from Shakespeare’s Othello: “Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice”. Basically: “don’t tone things down or exaggerate them out of hostility.” Not bad advice for 2020.

Let’s seek to not tone things down, but neither seek to exaggerate them during the next couple of months.

Finally, take good care of each other. Look after your family, but also look after those that may be feeling isolated or unsure of what to do.
COVID-19 is something to be taken seriously, but not something to cause panic and allow us to forget we are all members of the same community.

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